002- I Peak into the future of 2010

I just finished putting together a video of meals I made during my raw food journeys in 2009 and it made me think. I began to relive all the feelings I had when I was at the various stages of raw veganism and I could clearly remember the levels of difficulty as well as the seemingly easy choices when it came to certain foods. Now I sit and wonder what I will become in the months ahead. Will I transform into a very radical advocate of living food who preaches to everyone about the goodness and vibrant life they can live if only they could stop eating cooked food. Will I become introverted and withdrawn due in part to the lack of association with those who are also leading a life "less cooked." Hahaha, well I certainly hope that doesn't become the case. In fact, I would much rather continue to grow my Raw Vegan Lifestyle like a delicate experiment nestled in a warm Petri dish. I know that there will be tough times and easy ones as well. I look forward to the day when I can let the emphasis on food relax and advance in other areas of my life. For now, I need that emphasis because it's one area in life that has been systematically removed from most of us. Our food consumption has been "out of our control" as humans for quite some time. Since I have made a conscious and deliberate action to reclaim that duty, I can feel the sometimes intolerable nudge to return to old habits. For example, instead of preparing my meals ahead of time (or partially), I have made decisions (in the past) to just grab whatever was pre-made (processed). This only led to more of the same and that process snowballed until I just didn't think about it as much any longer. Being on the raw food journey was one of the ways I could be sure to bring myself out of this slumber and actively participate in the selection of my foods...my whole living foods!

So, what about the future of 2010? It's a blank canvas awaiting my selection of pigments. My first and most important decision will be...."What colors do I want to mix that will result in success, fortitude, and fixity of purpose!"

001-Best Recipes of 2009

I was looking through my recipe binder yesterday for one of my favorite raw meals and thought I should commemorate my experience with raw food preparation by making a list of some favorites. Since this is the beginning of a new year, what better time to do this than right now! Keep in mind I am talking about recipes that I have either created or found through other sources and have tried.

For my morning meals while eating raw, I have enjoyed granola and apple cinnamon cereal. There have been other foods I have eaten but these are two that I have recreated many times and enjoyed each time. During the middle part of the day I have eaten "mock" tuna both in a sandwich with raw bread and on romaine lettuce leaves "taco style." I have followed a few different recipes and have not been disappointed in either case. There is one recipe in particular that I enjoyed and have made consistently throughout my journey's in raw food [see 313HealthyMe on youtube for a look at the recipe and how I made it]. I love, love, love salads and have made so many different variations of the green salad. One of the "specialty" salads that I have made and enjoy over and over is the Kreamy Kale Salad. The taste is different than the typical garden salad. Another mid-day meal that I have enjoyed is the nut burgers. There is an endless supply of recipes for this meal and I am still experimenting with many different ideas. Basically, I use a walnut pate' then add ingredients that I would like to taste in a burger.

I am making a video to showcase these meals so if you would like to see how I made them or get a list of the ingredients I used to prep the burger, please search 313HealthyMe on YouTube and check me out there.